Let's Talk Taper!!

As I write this, we are 10 days away from Cowtown. Hopefully everyone has been paying attention to nutrition and scaling back a bit on mileage.

Tapering is something that, in my humble opinion, is one of the most individually tailored elements of training. There is no one tapering method that works best for everyone, and you just have to learn what's best for you.

Having said that, there are some elements of every good taper that you have to incorporate these last 10 or so days if you want to race successfully. First and foremost, you have to acknowledge that it's the rest and recovery that are most important in the time left until race day. Your muscles, tissue, joints, and every other body part are tired. They have been asked to push and push and push, briefly rest, then push even harder the next week. Right now they are trying to rebuild and come back as strong as possible. Your sole job in the next 10 days is to stay out of the way! Let your body do what it knows should be done, and DO NOT SABOTAGE IT BY BEING STUPID. Go ahead and run, but keep it at a much lower intensity, and do not do any more hill workouts, speed work or try something new and different at your gym!
Your longest run from here on out will not be more than 10 miles (maybe 12 for Ultras but that's up to you). Anything more will not have time to fully repair itself prior to the race, and even if you feel rested at the start, the damage will show in the latter parts of your race. Right now your body is not only repairing itself, but it's also loading up on glycogen. If you go out now at high intensity, you just blew your reserves and you will not have time to get it back. I personally want a full tank at that starting line.

Do not cut yourself short on protein during this period. Also make sure you are taking Vitamin C if not already. A weird thing about tapering: Your body sees it as a sign to relax and start getting strong. That tells your immune system to relax as well, since it's been going on hyper drive during your hardest mileage weeks. This increases your risk of getting sick right before the race, so be proactive and up that intake of Vitamin C. I put a couple of "EmergenC" packets in a glass of water and really like the taste.

And finally, go with your intuition on rest days prior to the race. Some people prefer to do a 30 min. light run on Thursday, rest Friday, then race Saturday. Others prefer to rest Thursday, light run Friday, race Saturday. My taper works best with the day before a race completely off, and I do mostly cross-training race week, but I never do anything new or unfamiliar. It's all stuff already in my schedule. Go with what you've learned about your body through training. Also, don't interpret "taper" as laying around on the couch from here on out and eating what you want! That will just result in you being sluggish and fat on race day?!

Every single one of you is ready for Cowtown. ZMan and JBone paved the way, so play it smart and I'll see you Saturday!!
GIjan